Lucy Dacus singing Bread & Roses for all the SLAC alums in the crowd.

I’m not crying! You’re crying!

Yup, it all comes back to Reagan.

Let me fix that for you: Texas A&M is limiting how instructors may discuss gender identity and race in classrooms in an assault on academic freedom unseen in America since the Red Scare.

I'm Thomas Chatterton Williams, and as the reality of our entire political and cultural elite's deep enmeshment with pedophilia and sex trafficking goes from obvious to undeniable, I will be writing about how it's bad to have principles.

One year ago

I know it's a small part of a much larger story, but can we talk about how godawful hideous that ballroom is going to be?

"I never thought they'd eat *my* face...."

And this is why we can't have nice things: all the billionaires who have monopolized pretty much everything (I'm typing on an Apple computer, our university has moved us all over to Microsoft 365, our student tracking software uses AWS servers etc etc) are bankrolling these delusions of grandeur.

What the actual fuck? A 70s style Black pimp? Injection sites for CRACK???? It's hard to tell that this is an actual ad rather than a parody of a Cuomo spot. Who on earth would be convinced by this? And is the Mamdani figure at the end AI? Isn't that, um, illegal?

Just saw this. WTAF? Are they just plucking people off the street?

Brian Schatz: "This is not about money. There is enough money to bail out Argentina with $20b. There is enough money to purchase a brand new aircraft for $173m for Noem. There is enough money to renovate the WH ballroom. What there isn't enough money for under this Republican government is you."

For those tempted to say Young Republicans have always been this way, they really have not. When I worked on campus and did bipartisan college events after, they were very much not like this. That’s why groups like YCT and eventually TPUSA formed — because Young Republicans weren’t radical enough.

What what what? Plus, is he so stupid that he doesn't realize that he should probably take that down if he's in a zoom meeting, or at least blur his background?

Well, this isn't great.

This gives me an inordinate amount of joy.

Don't have time to read this right now. I'm saving for an evening very soon when the authoritarian shit being thrown at us gets a bit too difficult to bear.

BREAKING: WE WON!!! 💥 💥 💥 Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment. Full ruling here:

In most states (8 out of 11) in which abortion rights have been on the ballot , the majority has voted for it. A ballot measure failed in Florida only because the prerequisite was 60% yes votes and it got 57%. And most of these states were "red": NE, FL, KA, AZ, MS etc. This IS a big tent issue.

We have fallen into a river of shit, and this is the dead badger that just got snagged on the branch we’re holding onto to keep our heads above water.

OMG, this afternoon's ANTIFA Board of Directors meeting went on and on. I thought Jesus would *never* stop talking!

So, this is T's take on why childhood vaccines are a bad idea: “It’s too much liquid, too many different things are going into that baby at too big a number.” TOO. MUCH. LIQUID. This is clearly someone who never took any of his children to the pediatrician.

I suppose it's better late than never with the NYT, but at least they're starting to call the thing by its name.

@thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social The problem with debates over immigration is that 2 very different issues are conflated: civil deportation and criminal arrest, charge, trial, and/or conviction. The work of the NY police, courts etc isn't and shouldn't be the same as that of ICE.

Shit is getting real.

Ok folks, we are now officially through the looking glass.

Yes -- faculty are fighting back at their colleges and universities, locally, regionally, and nationally. We have realized that only we can protect us and we're using every strategy we can.

I have to admit, when I first saw Newsom's post I thought it was ironic. Then I realized it was not. Gurrrrrrllll.

My feed is almost entirely people condemning violence and telling others not to celebrate this.

From @insidehighered.com, a story about an instructor at Texas A&M being fired for teaching "gender ideology" in her children's lit class. This is straight-up McCarthyism.

Dear God, when will white people dreadlocks be over?

The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

Science, my friends. I always knew that Lululemon was a public health risk.

AAUP President Todd Wolfson denounces planned academic cuts at the University of Oregon, laying out several concerns. @uauoregon.bsky.social 🧵

One of the few incidences when dad jokes really hit the spot.

Hey universities

People are so excited that we might be on the verge of civil war. I’m not. I’m a basic bitch who likes basic things like pumpkin spice lattes and not getting shot at in the grocery store.

When the terror of ICE is so evident that your city’s local street artists do what they can to help spread potentially information. Sign by Emeyewhisky.

Wonder what the Oklahoma:NY numbers are…

Context matters, my friends.

You know that scene in an action movie when the bad guy runs through the kitchen of a restaurant and pulls down all the pots and pans behind him to slow down his pursuers? We're in that part of the Trump presidency.

Real discussion: CNN: Hey Dave it's CNN. Could you come on to talk about the death of Hulk Hogan Me: Hulk Hogan was a racist scab and a liar. He hated unions, Black people, and the truth and that's why he loved Donald Trump. What time do you want me? CNN: Great! Well.... so we'll keep looking

Hi all — I’ll be back soon. Just taking a brief break to sob uncontrollably before I leap back into action.

I can't imagine I'm the only one who's hearing echoes of "weapons of mass destruction" being dinned into our ears at every repetition of "Iran's nuclear programme."

Thrilled with Mamdani, but a huge shout out to @bradlander.bsky.social. He supported other progressive Dems, refused claims of antisemitism against Mamdani, never stooped to negative campaigning. And when Mamdani won he brought all his supporters over to the Zohran victory party. What a mensch.

I know I haven't been posting much of late. One reason is the ton of work I've been doing to finish up a bunch of different small projects. The other is that it takes a lot of energy to fight off despair.

It's clear that we're in an authoritarian police state and we're about a stone's throw from martial law. Get ready, friends.

Feeling cautiously optimistic.